ABSTRACT
This Chapter explores the concept of environmental security within the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). An appropriate draft agenda will be discussed using seven different but intertwined examples of environmental security issues taken from states within and bordering the Indian Ocean land degradation, water, fisheries, climate change, nuclear waste, environmental refugees and the urban explosion and associated environmental deterioration. Land degradation is closely associated with the critical issue of water, and water is an issue which crosses national and state borders with relative ease, reflecting the geophysical reality of rivers and waterways. Deforestation, coupled with poor agricultural practices, and continuing tectonic movements, have led to floods, soil erosion and siltation. The environmental security project of the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG) is based on the assumption that all nation-states within the Indian Ocean region share a common interest in ascertaining and maintaining a secure environmental future.
